Change Management Simulation: Power & Influence
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Audio Transcript Auto-generated
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Thank you for taking time to review my experience and
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outcomes from the Harvard Business review simulation on power and
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influence using the role of director of product innovation for
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two scenarios, this presentation will highlight key decision making approaches.
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I took consequences of decisions, changes made in a follow
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up scenario and lessons learned from this assignment.
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In my first attempt.
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While I do think getting familiar to the semantics of
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the simulation influenced my outcome, which was an ultimate failure.
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There is an interesting angle to the approach I took.
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I started with soliciting the Ceo support, thinking that his
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legitimate power would give me a foundation of credibility to
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support me and my change initiative.
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I recognize now that this was not successful and that
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several of the Ceos vice presidents were skeptical of the
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initiative, including his closest allies, and the CEO was not
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taking a position of directing orders or influencing decisions for
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the outcome of the initiative, which one would expect with
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the leader exercising their legitimate power.
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My subsequent steps were made with the intention to cast
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a broad net to the staff through town hall meetings,
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clarifying organizational values and building a coalition of support.
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I made these decisions with the thought that by using
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mine and my colleagues, expertise and information power, I would
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be effective in communicating to staff and helping them understand
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the goal of the change initiative and gain their interest
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in my professional experience.
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I also thought connecting a change effort with the organization's
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values would be relevant for the staff to align the
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project goals, assuming my team as spectrum sunglasses was geographically
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dispersed. The use of videoconferencing for the town hall meetings
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would have been the most effective.
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This technology is efficient, minimizes, travel is more engaging than
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telephone conferencing, improves the quality of the conversation and leads
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to better team building and personal connection.
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I underestimated the power of the one on one interviews
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and how making those connections first would have a stronger
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influence on my credibility with team members.
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Instead of relying on influencing the team through information sharing,
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I would have gained more influence through cultivating personal relationships,
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listening and understanding the teens concerns and gaining knowledge of
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their network as well as providing the team insight into
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the motives, my motives and intentions.
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Not only would I have provided myself the opportunity to
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gain valuable insight in education from their perspective that I
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may not have considered by taking time to make these
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connections and engage in a cognitive conversation.
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I would have likely made a dent and successfully overcoming
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their skepticism.
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As described by Young and you.
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A cognitive conversation would entail presenting sound arguments and presentation
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of the facts that when done objectively and clearly can
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lead to the detractor realizing their stance on the situation
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may not be as reasonable as my argument.
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It is my opinion that had I been successful through
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better use of these tactics.
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The subsequent actions of engaging a consultant support in sharing
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a success story would have had a positive impact.
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Leading to more adopters of my initiative.
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My failure to do this as well as premature attempts
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to organize training and a pilot project subsequently had a
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negative impact on my credibility.
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I did end up conducting more personal interviews, bringing people
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to the awareness stage, but with so little credibility at
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that point, my efforts with the Town hall meetings, email
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notices, an attempt to build a coalition thereafter were not
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successful. Using the lessons learned from the first simulation, I
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kicked off my second project with private interviews with vice
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presidents focusing on those first who had hesitations or concerns.
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I followed those interviews up with obtaining the consultant support,
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believing their expertise would positively influence my credibility over the
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next several weeks.
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I was strategic in my action scheduling more private interviews
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with the goal to visit with every member of the
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leadership team.
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I recognized the significance of influencing the leaders at the
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manager and director level was just as if not more
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important than higher up the chain.
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I follow the interviews with town hall meetings, obtaining coalition
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support and consistent communication and visibility throughout the organization.
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Again, as with the first scenario attempt through the use
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of information power, I expected my effective communications to the
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staff would aid them and understanding the goal of the
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change initiative and sparked their interest from a political standpoint.
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I understood from my interviews that managing this project with
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the attitude that we must change to comply to comply
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with the demands of our retail vendors would not be
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enough to get people on board acceptance through directives and
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an attitude of indifference risks successful implementation of the change.
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Rather, actions taken to heighten awareness, encourage collaboration and gain
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commitment would have more influence and allow for the team
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members motivation and creativity to lead to adoption and implementation
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of the change effort.
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The decision to conduct a pilot project was much better
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timed. In this simulation with the project.
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I would have turned to the principles of six thinking
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hats. This method involves taking a problem and facilitating discussion
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with team members using an intentional and focused mindset.
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The group uses the same thinking direction for each thinking
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hat blue, white, red, green, black and yellow.
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This process has been known to help people understand full
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complexity of the problem in a short time and affects
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the decision from different points of view.
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It can ada group who may be stuck and unable
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to make a decision and is also effective when used
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in political situations where information may be withheld by key
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stakeholders. Pulling the lever for the pilot project successfully led
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to two adopters.
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It was clear through the personal interviews that the majority
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of the team members, especially the more seasoned employees, are
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set in their ways, prefer to sit back and watch
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what happens are risk adverse and the environmental sustainability as
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a fad or even government employee to control companies in
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studying the decision making successes of teams, I learned that
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multi generation teams, those with a wide age range of
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25 years or more from the youngest to oldest team
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member, met or exceeded decision making goals, 73% of the
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time as compared to older teams at 44% And younger
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teams, 62 of the time.
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As with so many work insights these days.
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It is not our differences, but our biases that are
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the biggest barriers blocking multi generation teens at the root
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of it.
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Young and old workers have remarkably similar career goals, work
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attitudes and learning patterns.
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While I was successful at obtaining overall support of 18
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out of 20 of the leadership team, I believe, adding
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in a review of the organization's values as well as
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implementing a reward system, encouraging the team to use a
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multi generational approach to their decision making may have led
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to collaborative and full commitment by the team.
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Throughout my interviews, I gained a lot of insight into
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the personal values of the team members and aligning our
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project goals to their interest in addressing the source of
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their resistance would also gain me additional credibility.
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In conclusion, understanding business ethics, influence and power, both personal
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positional is critical for leadership and organizational success in business.
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The concept of power applies to the custody of authority
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influences skill development over others.
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Used effectively.
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A healthy balance of power and influence, allow business leaders
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to employ competent and engaged team members and create a
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niche in competitive advantage.
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Thank you for your interest in my learning with this
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assignment, provide a hero list of resources used to support
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my learning.